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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Truth Be Told

I moderated a panel of non-fiction writers on Tuesday, August 14th for The Book Shack in
Kingston, MA. It was entitled Truth Be Told. My guests were:

Ted Burbank, Alberta Sequira,

Jim Coogan,
Susan Trausch, and Joyce Keller Walsh.

Being strictly a writer of fiction, and in most cases, tales very loosely based in reality, I found myself a unique choice. To make it my own, I composed an introduction to celebrate this diverse group of driven writers and the power of their truth-telling pens. I have color coded the passages that refer to the certain writers in the piece. Please, look them up, buy their publications and celebrate their independent voices.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

A horde of oppressed hooligans break the
law and discard crates of breakfast beverage into the sea unleashing the
mightiest country the world has ever known.

A business and investment entrepreneur
finds the muse that normally has him share business strategy now calls to him to
pull away the shroud of mystery deep within Plymouth’s Burial Hill.

Yet another horde of the oppressed armed
with cell phones, a mighty app and the taste of freedom birth a democratic
state.

A woman finds that the strength of
memoir is enough to free her from the shackles of generational predisposition
and discovers the joys of unburdened living.

Another horde, ok, a gaggle, no, a
couple of nerds in a garage string together a series of 0 and 1s with punch
cards and a Frankenstein of machinery ushering in a new era of man.

A man with a life-long love affair with
the land where he was raised discovers the healing properties of looking at the
lighter side of life.

This time they were definitely a horde,
men playing a boys game defy all odds with no exceptional talents bestowed on
them from the Gods, free a state of optimists from a formidable curse.

A woman after caught in what appears to
be the rudder-less future of retirement finds direction in following her heart
and what has driven her from day one.

Yet another horde of talented youth
fueled on pride and talent bind together peoples of diverse lands and
philosophies for fleeting moments of pomp and circumstance based solely on a
thousand life stories and the purity of ambition.

And an accomplished playwright/author
writer unearths a murder that reads better than most mystery novels simply
because it really happened.

And one man builds a device that gives
the hordes of hordes the ability to document their world, inspire their world,
even transcend their world and it never needs batteries or power save that of
imagination, thank you Guttenberg.

Ladies and gentle, truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Theodore
P. Burbank (Ted)

celebrates Plymouth’s pride and
some of its hidden treasures.

Founder of Lighthouse Financial,
a family business guru and publisher a several interactive tools to aid
individuals through the quagmire of small business to retirement. Titles such
as The Handbook of Business Valuations,
Valuation and Sale of Small and Mid-size
Companies, you get the picture, and then all of a sudden comes

Alberta
Sequeira

four-time award
winning author of three memoirs
including Please,
God, Not Two
was nominated for the Editors Choice Award 2010 and appeared in the December
20, 2010 issue of Publishers Weekly.

Someone
Stop This Merry-Go-Round; An Alcoholic Family in Crisismemoirs life as the wife of an
alcoholicPlease
God, Not Two; This Killer Called Alcoholism.
A sequel the tells story of her daughter’s struggle with alcoholism and her
consequent demise.A
Healing Heart; a Spiritual Renewal
a heartfelt tale of her father, her family, and finding herself on a journey to
Medjugorje. (2006)Co-authored Loose Ends by Authors Without Borders (New Bedford) books for troops.
In progress, a novel entitled The Rusty Yearsandediting stories of
alcoholics and addicts and their views of various recovery programs for future publication.Website:www.albertasequeira.com
Blog: www.albertasequeira.wordpress.com

Jim
CooganHere’s somebody who knows what to do with his
retirement! After teaching Mr. Coogan has written;

A collection of anecdotes and unusual stories
about the Cape showcasing strange happenings and curious events--both natural
and man-made.

Susan
Trausch

Former, and that’s the operative
word here, former award-winning Boston Globe columnist addresses facing the
world of retirement head on in her memoir Groping Toward Whatever –
or How I Learned to Retire (Sort Of).

Joyce
Keller Walsh

Now we have someone who hails
from the world of fiction to embark into the “just-the-facts-ma’am” world of
non-fiction. How’s this for a dossier?

Author of The Pittsley Couty
Chronicles trilogy.

(Juckets, Swamp Yankees, Bog Men)

Winterkill brought some
histirical fact into the psychological mystery genre.

And most recently, (love the
title) Strummin’ the Banjo Moon in 2012.

After all this and numerous stage
plays as well she has just had published her first foray into non-fiction with

SLEUTH-blog an account of her real-time
investigation of a cold-case murder in 1969 in Fall River, MA.

She is also a co-founder of Authors Without Borders along withAlberta Sequeira

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About the Author

The Literary Bookie is a weekly guide to the best bets in the world of books. Part recommend/part review, these posts are meant to better your odds when you buy your next read. Enjoy your weekly hot sheet and share with others. The Literary Bookie was the former publisher/ reviewer for the pop culture and art culture publication, Cheeseball Magazine and novelist.
Tales by Toon is the meanderings of S.E. Toon, author, bookselling consultant and Creative Writing instructor.